


King & Lionheart

by rae_marie



Series: Echoes In the Universe [8]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen, also i wanted to write something with dragons, blair kenneth verse, i just want my space fam to be happy, i was fed up with writing angst and had to write some fluff before moving on, so here it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-14 00:25:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18041933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rae_marie/pseuds/rae_marie
Summary: The title for this short story comes from the song'King And Lionheart', by Of Monsters and Men, partly because it's the perfect song for these characters, and also partly because it seemed to fit with the setting of this story. (Seriously, though; please go listen to it; if any song summed up how I feel about my little space fam, it's this one.)





	King & Lionheart

‘Are there any planets with dragons?’

The Master looked up from the console.

‘Pardon me, Blair; what did you say?’

‘Are there any planets with dragons. Like….you know….full-fledged _dragons_ with wings and golden lairs and everything?’ 

The Master smiled.

‘Yes, my dear, there _are_.’ He looked back down at the console and fiddled with the controls.  

Blair sighed and stretched. It had been well over a week since the incident with the….no; she didn’t want to think about it.

Anyhow, it had been a few days, and they had just been floating in the Vortex, not really going anywhere, and Blair had wondered why. It wasn’t like the Master to let moss grow.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked. ‘Is it just another part of the Vortex?’

The Master smiled up at her. ‘No….you have given me an idea. I have set coordinates for somewhere _very_ special.’ 

Blair raised her eyebrows and sipped her tea. The time rotors rose and fell with that lovely whirring, humming sound, and she always found it comforting.

The rotors came to a stop, and the Master looked up at her again, still smiling.

‘Come over to the scanner; you will like this.’

Blair put down her cup and got up. When she got there, the scanner was on already, and she did a doubletake when she saw what was on the screen.

Colourful canopies stretched as far as the eye could see, and people were walking around in long, flowing gowns and chain mail.

‘Wha….’ Blair turned and stared up at the Master. ‘What _is_ this place? Are we in England?’

The Master chuckled. ‘We are not! We are on a planet that has an Earth Middle Ages reconstruction faire every few months, and it just so happens to be a planet where there are real, flying, fire-breathing dragons.’

Blair’s eyes went wide, and she turned back to the scanner and watched. A young woman ran past, but it almost looked like she was floating; her gown was so long.

‘ _Woah_ ….’ she looked up in the direction of the wardrobe. ‘I….would love to wear one of those….but I think it might be impractical.’

The Master laughed. ‘That is understandable. Perhaps you could wear something more practical for the greater part of the day, and change into a gown in the evening, for the feast?’

Blair hesitated, then grinned broadly.

‘ _Yes_ ,’ she said.

*****

Blair waited for the Master to come out of the wardrobe. When he did, he was wearing a dark burgundy surcoat with a Gallifreyan insignia on it. Blair gasped.

‘That’s _fab_ ,’ she breathed.

‘Thank you, Blair,’ he said, smiling.

Blair turned and ran into the wardrobe.

 _I want to find one just like that,_ she thought. She rifled through the surcoats hanging up, and even found one identical to the Master’s, but none that fit her. She frowned, and picked up one of the burgundy ones, and took it over to the replicator in the corner.

In about a minute and a half, it was finished, but when she compared it to the original, it didn’t have the same Gallifreyan insignia on it. Blair sighed, and shrugged, then put it on over some breeches and boots and a shirt she’d found.

When she walked back into the corridor, she was greeted by the Master chuckling.

‘The TARDIS truly _has_ grown rather attached to you, Blair,’ he said.

‘Oh?’ She looked around but couldn’t see anything unusual.

‘Yes. Did you get that surcoat from the replicator?’ Blair nodded. ‘She has put your name on it, in Gallifreyan.’

Blair looked down at her surcoat, then slowly back up at the Master and grinned. The Master, who had had his hands behind his back the entire time, brought them into view.

‘ _Oh_ ….’ Blair breathed.

‘One of these swords is for you to keep,’ he said. He handed the sheath’s belt to her, and she buckled it around her waist. She stared at it for a long time, then looked up at him, eyes lit up.

‘You’re a knight, and I’m a squire,’ she said. His eyes twinkled.

‘That is good,’ he said. ‘Shall we go, then?’

‘Yeah.’

They took each other’s hands and walked out through the TARDIS, out into the carnival of colour.

*****

Blair felt a little edgy as she stepped outside the TARDIS, but it soon dissipated as she saw all the booths and costumes and art. There were even science displays in the Renaissance section, and Blair stood for a long while studying those, especially the chemistry and physics ones.

A while later, they walked past an arena with a sign that said, ‘tournament to begin in five hours’. 

‘Ooh what’s that?!’ Blair asked. ‘Are they gonna do jousting?’

‘Among other things, yes! And I see a section over there for fencing, as well!’

The Master looked at her briefly, then back at the fenced-off area, then back at Blair.

‘Blair….would you like me to teach you how to fence _properly?_ ’

Her eyes went wide, and she nodded enthusiastically.

*****

‘Stand like this, Blair.’

The Master put his hands on her shoulders and helped her shuffle a bit to the right. She stood with her legs planted wider than she normally would, and her right foot forward.

‘Now are you balanced?’ he asked.

‘I think so.’

He nodded and let her go, and Blair wobbled a little, then straightened.

‘If you can bounce on the balls of your feet without feeling like you will fall over, you should be fine.’

Blair tested this, and didn’t fall. The Master smiled and drew back.

‘Excellent! Now. You want to keep leading with your right foot, since you are right-handed - _yes!_ \- and try not to have a death-grip on the hilt.’

‘How do I not drop it, then? It’s heavy!’

‘It is more or less the correct size for you, so when you are more accustomed to balancing it, you will be fine. But try to have a loose wrist.’

Blair carefully bounced her wrist and somehow managed to keep her grip of the foil.

‘It is also a bit more unwieldy because of the protective cap at the end, but there is nothing that can be done about _that_ , as it would not be a good idea for you to be trying this with a fully weaponised sword.’

‘Yeah I get that.’ Blair tried to wave the sword a bit, but dropped it. She picked it up, and waved it again, and had more success this time.

‘So what do I do now?’ Blair asked. The Master drew his foil.

‘Try to knock it out of my hand.’

‘Can I do that cool trick you always do?’ she asked. ‘Can you show me?’ The Master smiled.

‘No, my dear; I am afraid that _that_ is a technique only a Time Lord could do.’

Blair snorted. ‘So how do I knock it out of your hand, then?’

‘Hold still a moment, and watch my foil.’

The Master expertly flipped Blair’s sword up and out of her hand in one swift stroke. Her jaw dropped.

‘Did you see what I did?’ he asked. Blair shook her head. ‘Retrieve your sword and I shall show you again.’

Blair did, and he repeated the stroke in slow motion. The sword clattered to the ground, and Blair retrieved it.

‘There; now you try,’ the Master said.

Blair tried the exact same move, which the Master blocked a few times, and then finally, she managed to fake a move, then come in the opposite way and flip it right out of his hand.

‘Bravo, Blair!’ the Master said. She smiled.

‘I _did it!_ ’ She reached for her sword. ‘What next?!’

‘Hmm….I probably should show you a few techniques for defending yourself against others’ strokes….’ He frowned and picked up his sword again. ‘Let me show you a basic riposte,’ he said.

‘What’s that?’

‘Ah….a parry to a parry.’

Blair nodded, and the Master pulled back a little.

‘Try a lunge - that is when you reach forward to make a stroke - at me, and I shall parry it.’

Blair sprung forward, and the Master caught her stroke and pushed it back towards her.

‘Try to come at it from a different angle and sweep my sword aside!’

Blair shifted, and much to her surprise, knocked the Master’s sword flying.

‘ _Wonderful_ , Blair! That was _excellent!_ ’

Blair grinned, and the Master leant down and hugged her.

*****

They practised for over a half-hour, and by the end of it, Blair was exhausted, but happy.

‘We should probably find some food,’ the Master said.

‘Yeah. But….’

‘Yes….?’

‘Where are the dragons?’ Blair asked.

The Master frowned.

‘I have been wondering that myself; typically they would be flying around the entire time the festival is running, but I have seen only one.’ He frowned a bit deeper, then looked around. ‘Let us find refreshments, then we shall see about the dragons.’

‘All right.’

*****

After their meal of fried fish and water ( _historically inaccurate_ , the Master called that; water would not have been very clean on Earth in the Middle Ages), they set about trying to find where the dragons were. The Master checked the normal places, and they weren’t there, only a lone reenactor in a Viking dress, who was pacing and muttering to herself.

‘Pardon us, ma’am, but do you know where the dragons have gotten to?’ the Master asked. The woman stopped and looked up.

‘I _don’t_ , I’m afraid. They’ve been stolen.’  

Blair’s heart dropped.

‘ _Stolen?!_ Who would do that?!’

‘I don’t know, Miss, but there are plenty of people around here who would pay a high price for a dragon, and I’m sure whoever it is has taken advantage of that fact.’

Blair gasped, and the Master put an arm around her.

‘Thank you, ma’am; I hope your dragons are returned to you.’

He gently steered Blair away, who was shaking a little.

Once they were a good distance away, the Master stepped to the side into a narrow alley between tents, and crouched down to Blair’s level.

‘I am truly sorry; this was meant to be an excursion to help you recover from what just happened, not upset you more.’

‘We have to find them,’ Blair said. The Master frowned.

‘I do not know if that is such a good idea; you need to rest from excite - ‘

‘They’re _dragons_ in _danger_ , Master; we can’t just let them get stolen and then who-knows-what happens to them!’

The Master frowned, then laughed softly.

‘Blair, you are a wonder.’ He thought for a moment, then spoke.

‘I want you to be careful, and if anything upsetting is going to happen, I want you to feel completely free to leave the situation. I have dealt with much more dangerous things than this in my thousands of years of life, and you do not need to try to protect me, my dear.’

Blair nodded. ‘Okay. Let’s go stop some dragon thieves.’

*****

The Master took out the omniscanner and turned it on; he felt it was a little too soon to use the TCE in front of Blair when it was not an emergency, so he used the device instead. The readings fluctuated wildly until they came closer to where the fencing field was, where it suddenly went wildly off the scale. The Master pulled up short.

‘Are they here?’ Blair asked. The Master nodded.

‘If the scanner’s calculations are correct, then yes. But the question is _where?_ I see no hiding places; do you?’

Blair looked around, turning slowly, then turned again and stopped, giving a short little gasp.

‘Master - ‘ she whispered, pulling back a little, ‘ - do you see that….?

He looked in the direction of where she was pointing, and after a moment, realised that if he squinted, he could make out a slight crack in the large boulder by the field. Frowning, he strode forward and tried opening it. After about a microspan, he managed to pry it loose enough to get his hand behind it, unlock the catch he could feel, and swing the door open.

Before them sat a group of humans, staring at them in horror, and behind _them_ was a collection of dragons in tiny cages, which were obviously too small.

‘Good evening,’ the Master said quietly. ‘What exactly is happening here?’

‘We….we….’ one of the humans said.

‘Oh, shut up, John; they’re no threat,’ one of the others said. ‘We’ll deal with them like we dealt with the other one.’

‘Will you, now?’ the Master said, his hand going to his hilt.

‘ _Who are you?!_ ’ Blair shouted. ‘Other than a bunch of cowards, I mean, ‘cos _that’s_ pretty obvious already!’

The one called John scowled.

‘We’re not cowards! We’re just earning a living!’

‘Doing _what_ , might I ask?’ the Master said, coolly.

‘None of your business.’

‘Oh, it won’t do any harm to tell them,’ the one who seemed to be the leader said. ‘It’s not like they’ll be able to do anything with the information.’ He grinned, rather insolently, the Master thought, at the two of them. ‘We’re selling the dragons for food,’ he said.

The Master heard the unmistakable sound of metal sliding against metal and turned quickly to see Blair leap forward, sword drawn.

‘ _I’ll_ tell you what you’re gonna be doing, you horrible man,’ she growled. ‘You’re gonna be dueling with me, and when I win, I’ll get to _keep_ the dragons, and _you’ll_ be skulking off to whatever planet you came from, nursing your fatally wounded _pride!_ ’

‘Blair….’ the Master said, not certain whether to be worried or impressed. 

Everyone stood frozen for a second, and then the leader laughed.

‘Oh, _really?_ ’ He laughed more. ‘A _duel_ , you say? You won’t live to see the end of it.’

‘I don’t mean _that_ kind of duel,’ Blair spat, ‘I _mean_ , that whether you like it or not, we’re gonna find out who can disarm the other first, and when _I win_ , you’re gonna give me all your dragons. For _free_.’  

The leader stared at her for a moment, then laughed.

‘Yeah? All right. I’ll humour you. Let’s go out to the field and do this.’

Blair nodded tightly and backed off, still not sheathing her sword. She reached out and took the Master’s hand, and he gave it a squeeze.

 _Are you certain you wish to do this?_ he thought to her.

 _As certain as I am about anything,_ she thought back.

*****

The Master stood off to the side as Blair walked onto the field. The leader of the robbers caught his eye, and the Master, never breaking his gaze, drew his sword, took the safety cap off, and put it back in his sheath, very calmly; never changing his neutral expression. The human paled and looked away quickly, to where Blair was standing, fidgeting.

‘Let’s get this over with,’ she said.

The Master winced as the two swords met with a clash. As he watched, he realised Blair was doing quite well for a beginner; not entirely badly, and was actually gaining ground on the robber.

The robber then suddenly pushed Blair back several paces, and the Master held his breath, but then he realised that he was coming in at a bad angle, and Blair took advantage of that. She quickly forced him back, then flipped his sword up and out of his hands. It fell to the ground, and the robber stared at it in shock.  

‘ _Yes!_ ’ Blair shouted, and turning to the Master, danced for joy on the field.

The Master smiled, and was about to congratulate her, when he saw the robber scowling, carefully picking up his sword, and removing the safety cap.

Quick as a wink, the Master drew his sword and lunged for him.

*****

Blair spun around at the sound of ripping leather. She did not expect to see the Master, lifting up the robber with the point of his sword, the most terrifying expression on his face.

‘You were _defeated_ ; fair is _fair_ ,’ he said, _very_ quietly. ‘Now _drop_ the _sword_.’

The man dropped the sword very quickly.

‘You’ll get arrested for running me through, old man….’ he whimpered.

The Master dumped him on the ground with a mere flick of his wrist.

‘I have not run you through, you cretin; your leather jacket is thick enough to prevent that. Now.’ He lifted the sword in a threatening gesture. ‘As I said. Fair is fair. Are you going to give Blair her reward, or aren’t you?’

‘Yes - yes yes yes I will - I - ‘ He scrambled to his feet, wincing. ‘Take them all; I don’t care just please don’t kill me - ‘

‘ _Then do it_ ,’ the Master said, and the man spun around and disappeared into the boulder. He reemerged after a few seconds, his entire gang dragging the cages out into the open. After there was a rather large stack, the leader said something, and they all looked at each other and _ran_.

Blair looked at the Master.

‘They brought them all out; this is not a trap,’ he said.

They walked over to the cages and stared. There were dozens of them, and they were all tinier than Blair had imagined dragons to be.

‘My dragons!’ 

They turned at the voice behind them. It was the woman who had lost them to begin with. She ran over and flung her arms around the cages.

‘My babies….where on Earth did you find them?!’ 

‘It’s….kinda a long story….’ Blair said. ‘I….I won their freedom in a duel.’ 

The woman laughed. ‘You’re kidding!’ She turned around and smiled at Blair.

‘ _Thank you_ , young woman; I can’t express how grateful I am.’

Blair grinned.

The woman turned again and stared at the cages. ‘I’ll have to get them out of these abominable things….’

She started unlatching the crates, and as she did, the tiny dragons stretched out into the open, and three of them fluttered over to sit on her shoulders.

When they were all out of their prisons, they gathered around the woman, seemingly protectively. She turned back to Blair and the Master, and Blair was almost _certain_ the dragons turned to look at them too.

‘I’m eternally grateful,’ she said. ‘I cannot thank you enough.’

‘Don’t mention it,’ Blair said.

‘After the feast, _please_ come round to my booth and I’ll let you fly.’

Blair’s eyes widened. She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn’t figure out _what_. The Master put a hand on her shoulder.

‘That is very kind of you, ma’am; we thank you.’

‘Of _course_. And my name’s Yeni, by the way.’

‘Thank you, Miss Yeni,’ the Master said, and Blair nodded enthusiastically, still speechless.

*****

They sat at the table, eating fish again. Blair had figured out how to put on a simple gown over her surcoat, and was wearing that at the feast, feeling rather regal. She was happy she’d helped to reunite Yeni and her dragons, and happy that she was at a festival, spending good, normal time with her friend.

They finished dinner, and after Blair ducked behind a stack of crates to change back into her surcoat, they headed over to Yeni’s booth.

‘You’ve come!’ she exclaimed with a laugh. ‘Come with me; you’re going to _love_ the mother dragon.’

Blair and the Master followed her to the back of her booth, and there, sitting contentedly on the grass, was a dragon about the size of a long draft horse.

‘Oh my goodness….’ Blair breathed.

‘Would you like to ride her? She can take the weight of both of you.’

‘Oh, _yes please!_ ’ Blair exclaimed. Yeni smiled and led them over to the dragon.

She helped first Blair up, and then the Master. ‘Have fun,’ she said. ‘And remember - her name is Sarla.’

Blair hugged Sarla tightly. ‘ _Thank you._ ’ Yeni nodded.

‘Go have fun.’ She patted Sarla’s head. ‘You take care of them, young lady,’ she said playfully. Sarla grunted, and stretched, and took off into the night sky.

*****

Blair couldn’t believe her eyes as she looked down over the scene below. The light from the torches flickered gently, and she could see Yeni waving to them from she knew not how far down. She laughed, the first good, long laugh in a long while, then took in a deep breath and enjoyed the view.

‘I am glad you are enjoying this,’ the Master said.

‘I _am_.’

Sarla’s wings beat softly in the night air, agilely avoiding her two passengers. ‘This is exactly what I wanted today to be like,’ the Master continued after a long silence. ‘I have not been pursuing our mission for a while because I wanted you to recover. I simply wanted today to be a day with no conflict, so you could rest and have…. _fun_ . You _are_ a human child, after all, no matter how much I keep forgetting that, and you need to have fun; not always be running around in mortal peril.’

‘Time Lords should have fun, too,’ Blair said. ‘Everyone should. Even dragons.’

The Master chuckled.

‘ _Are_ you having fun, Master?’ she asked.

‘I am. And it is good to know you are happy again, as well.’

Carefully, so as not to lose her balance, she turned and smiled at him over her shoulder. ‘I’m glad,’ she said. She turned back to Sarla after a moment.

‘Come on, Sarla,’ she whispered. ‘Take your knight and your squire as close as you can to the stars.’

Sarla grunted, and arced up into the night sky.

**Author's Note:**

> The title for this short story comes from the song [ 'King And Lionheart', by Of Monsters and Men ](https://youtu.be/CK-a_fX3_AE), partly because it's the perfect song for these characters, and also partly because it seemed to fit with the setting of this story. (Seriously, though; please go listen to it; if any song summed up how I feel about my little space fam, it's this one.)


End file.
